Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Refrigerators/ovens in individuals' houses

[Deborah Behrens (debbeh]

> At EcoVillage at Ithaca, we're trying to decide about exactly what 
> refrigerators and ovens we'll be putting in our individual kitchens.
> The kitchens are designed to be identical in all 30 households (with
> households between 1 and 6 members), because it makes a big difference
> in cost. We'd like to do the same with the appliances, but it's looking
> difficult....
> 
> Biggest problem seems to be the refrigerators. Some want to get by with
> 5 or 6 cubic ft (or possibly none at all!), and this would be a real
> hardship on a family with 2 adults & 4 kids. I currently have a 23 cf
> in my (non-coho) house, and figure we could make do with 14-16 cf. The
> space allotted in each kitchen will be the same. Common dining several
> nights a week certainly will make a difference in how much space we need,
> but we're not sure how much. Have any of you "already-moved-ins" found that
> you've got too much/too little refrigerator space in your unit? What sizes
> are you using?
> Ray Gasser, EcoVillage at Ithaca
> 

Ray, at Highline, we skimpped a bit on space for refrigerators, and are 
paying for it now, as we are trying to move in and move refrigerators in.
Some of our units only allowed 33" - sufficient space for max of 30" fridge,
when you allow for door clearance, etc.  IMHO, we would have been better
off allowing at least 36", which would have allowed those who wanted
side-by-sides to use them - even in the smallest units.  They may seem like
huge fridges, but if the resident already owns the large fridge, it could
be painful to have to spend the cash to replace it.  The excess space next 
to a smaller fridge can always be put to use to store things.

Also, kitchen cabinet installers often seem to disregard the plans and 
do what ever they feel like.  If you don't allow leeway for their 
'creativity' you could be stuck.  As an aside, we've also had very negative
reactions to the under counter lazy susans, because of the waste of precious 
space.

In a similar vein, while we installed gas for dryers in every unit and in
the common house, we're having to retrofit for 220V in a number of cases.
* Some residents already have electric dryers.
* Some residents who want their own dryers but are buying on the used 
market, can't find gas dryers available.
* Two residents have donated their old washers/dryers to the common house,
but they are, of course, electric not gas.  

Also, in the flexibility vein, we ended up going with track lighting in
many areas of the common house, and probably could have done with more.
Our lighting salesman disparaged track lighting by saying that it was
for when you weren't sure exactly what you were doing with a space - 
which is exactly why we're using it.
(I wish we'd thought of track lighting before I finalized the lighting
selections for my unit- I'd have used it there.)

Live and Learn
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 |  Debbie Behrens             debbeh [at] auto-trol.com  W (303)252-2215 |
 |  Highline Crossing CoHousing                      H (303)457-4184 |
 |  Rocky Mountain Cohousing Assn                    Fx(303)252-2249 |
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 |      All opinions expressed are mine, and do not necessarily      |
 |   reflect the opinions of Highline Crossing or RMCA in general.   |
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